Samuels to return home

Marlon Samuels’ degenerative left knee has worsened, ruling him out of further participation of the cricket tour of South Africa.

The 22-year old Jamaican right-hander, who started complaining of knee pain towards the end the Zimbabwe leg, had an MRI on arrival in South Africa and a specialist confirmed the knee condition is “extremely serious,” according to a team source. Samuels has had two surgeries on the same knee and sources say the batsman is extremely worried that the injury could be career-threatening.

Meanwhile, sources say 20-year-old Barbadian Dwayne Smith will be flown into South Africa as replacement for Samuels. Smith has generated a name for himself with hard-hitting batting in the recent Red Stripe Bowl where he averaged 39.75, including a boundary-studded 92 against eventual champions Guyana.